144 PRESERVING GUNPOWDER. 



parted a few feathers, and flew off to all appearance with little 

 injury. 



" By every thing blind !" exclaimed my kinsman, " the 

 gun must have been charged with sawdust. Ha ! let's see the 

 flask ! Frank, Frank, thou art a careless gunner ; the powder 

 is not worth one farthing/' 



It was true. I had forgotten my flask in the pocket of a 

 wet cot a more,* and consequently the powder was spoiled. 



Nothing puzzles me more, with the exception of keeping 

 the Sheriff at a distance, than preserving gunpowder, and 

 preventing my arms from rusting ; and it is incredible how 

 soon the humidity of this climate spoils the one, and causes 

 the other.f 



* Anglice, great-coat. 



f Gunpowder is composed of very light charcoal, sulphur, and well- 

 refined saltpetre. The powder used by sportsmen in shooting game, is 

 generally composed of six parts of saltpetre, one of charcoal, and one of 

 sulphur; but these proportions, as well as the introduction of other 

 ingredients, and the sizes of the grains, are undoubtedly varied by the 

 different manufacturers in the composition of the powders of the same 

 denomination, and are always kept profoundly secret. 



The materials are put into a wooden trough, where they are ground 

 together, to render the contact of the nitrous arid combustible particles 

 intimate and equal throughout the whole mass. The mixture is occa- 

 sionally sprinkled with water, to form an amalgam, which is afterwards 

 granulated, and to prevent the finer particles of the sulphur and the 

 charcoal from flying off, which would necessarily alter the proportion of 

 the composition. The powder-makers employ more or less time in the 

 operation of grinding, in proportion to the quantity and quality of the 

 saltpetre. When they conceive that the ingredients are properly mixed 

 together, they from the paste form those little grains, which, being dried, 

 obtain the name of gunpowder. 



There are two general methods of examining gunpowder; one with 

 regard to its purity, the other with regard to its strength. 



Its purity is known by laying two or three little heaps near each 

 other, upon white paper, and firing one of them. For if this takes fire 

 readily, and the smoke rises upright, without leaving any dross or feculant 

 matter behind, and without burning the paper, or firing the other heaps, 

 it is esteemed a sign that the sulphur and nitre were well purified, that 

 the coal was good, and that the ingredients were thoroughly incorporated 

 together ; but if the other heaps also take fire at the same time, it is 

 presumed, that either common salt was mixed with the nitre, or that the 

 coal was not well ground, or the whole mass not well beat or mixed 

 together ; and if either the nitre or sulphur be not well purified, the paper 

 will be black or spotted. 



To determine the strength of powder, dry it perfectly, and ascertain 

 how many sheets of paper it will drive the shot through at the distance 



